Verified Document

Hla Hart And Modern Legal Positivism Case Study

HLA Hart and Modern Legal Positivism H.L.A. Hart is one of the important names in the history of legal theories. In our class reading, Hart talked about past strict positivists and changed legal positivist theory for modern thinking and experience. Hart also talked about Austin and Bentham, who were two important figures in Utilitarianism. Hart agreed with some of their thought but disagreed with other aspects of their thought. Because of his examination, and sometimes disagreement and changes, of Positivism and Utilitarianism, H.L.A. Hart is famous for a new way of thinking about both schools of thought.

The Key Concept from the Text and an Example

The key concept from the text is a more modern way of looking at law and morality because Hart is a legal positivist but he is a modern legal positivist. Hart believes that the "point of intersection between law and morals or that what is and what ought to be are somehow indissolubly fused or inseparable though the positivists denied it." For example, Hart says that people are not giant land crabs with shells that cannot be penetrated and who can somehow get their food from the air and not be hurt by each other. Until people become like those giant land crabs, there must be laws that are against violence and that set minimum property rights. Hart believes that those laws "overlap" with basic moral principles against murder, violence and theft and that all legal systems "coincide" with morality at such vital points.

Hart wrote several important works, including "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" for the Harvard Law Review. In "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals," Hart looked at old and new Positivism and the Utilitarian beliefs of Austin and Bentham. An earlier legal positivist believed that it is only a coincidence if legal rights and moral rights are connected. Legal rights do not depend on morality or "natural law" at all for a legal positivist. One example that Hart uses is "the core...

In Hart's example, a "core" is the thing that a law is meant to cover but a "penumbra" covers things that are not meant to be covered by that law. If a law says that vehicles cannot be in a park, a judge who goes by legal positivism would look up the meaning of "vehicle" and stick to that definition. The judge would not try to figure out the "penumbra" covered by that law and try to use the law for a bicycle, roller skates or toy cars because those are not defined as "vehicles" in the statute. Hart disagrees with past strict positivists because he believes that modern thinkers must see that there is a "point of intersection between law and morals or that what is and what ought to be are somehow indissolubly fused or inseparable though the positivists denied it."
b. The Point-of-View of Both Austin and Bentham and Examples

Austin and Bentham were both Utilitarians. They believed that there is not really a connection between the law that is and the law that ought to be. In other words, Austin and Bentham believed that it is only a coincidence if legal rights and moral rights are connected. Because they were Utilitarians, Austin and Bentham believed in a social philosophy of liberalism in law and government, reform, and control of power because even reformers might corrupt the law. They also believed that: a rule can violate morality but still be a law; a rule can obey morality but not be a rule of law. An example that Hart gave is the rights of a master over his slaves: even though the master's rights violate morality, his rights are still a rule of law; also, someone could violate the law of a master's rights by illegally freeing a slave but that violation would obey moral law. Finally, they believed that: a study of the vocabulary of law is vital to understanding law; and that law is a command.

Austin said that the…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Positivism and Constructivism Positivism Vs
Words: 2473 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Learning is cooperative and there is much to gain by sharing it with classmates. Special needs students had the right to merge with normal students in a regular classroom, according to advocates of inclusion (McCarthy 1994). Technology could make that happen, the advocates contended. Special services and resources could be integrated into the regular classroom and allow the ideal learning environment to develop for both types of students. Computer technology

Positivism Vs Interpretivism in Research
Words: 1914 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Worldviews of Research PhilosophyIntroductionOntology, epistemology and axiology are at the foundation of research philosophy. Ontology is the study of the nature of being. Epistemology is the study of knowledge or how one comes to know things. Axiology is the study of the nature of values. Being, knowledge and values are intimately connected in business research, because they set the stage for how one will ultimately collect and analyze the data

Positivism in Social Science Research
Words: 736 Length: 2 Document Type: Creative Writing

How can I expand or advance the conversation by new insight or perspective?I agree with the idea that the ability to replicate a study is critical in being able to trust its conclusions. This is much more difficult in qualitative research, given that such a small, highly specific population is being observed by the researcher. But even quantitative studies face a so-called replication crisis. �When research papers are published, they

Logical Positivism
Words: 1320 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Logical positivism (also known as logical empiricism) was a philosophical movement that began in Vienna, Austria during the 1920s, coming to public attention in 1929 with the publication of a manifesto called Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung. Der Wiener Kreis (The Scientific World-Conception. The Vienna Circle) (Richardson & Uebel 13). The manifesto was dedicated to Moritz Schlick, a leading figure of logical positivism and the ostensible leader of the Vienna Circle, and was

Law Theory Legal Positivism My
Words: 610 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

This showed me that law-protection of people from harm- was exclusive from the moral obligations of the society-such as working to improve the community. Basically, I eventually came to associate the Separability Thesis based on my observation; essentially, the legality and morality of the island were independent of one another. Ultimately, the member of my expedition who spoke the language of Pango-Pango was able to have a conversation with one

Legal Positivism and Australian Law Nature and
Words: 1857 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Legal Positivism and Australian Law Nature and rule of law have generated more passionate debates in legal circles than anything else and the reason lies in the fact that law directly affects the lives of citizens of a country. National laws govern the lives of human beings and it is thus important to debate such things as their nature, their validity and applicability, their relevance to the case etc. Citizens of

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now